fevnut's musings 2023/#31: Widnes, Annual Awards and Connor Jones, and London
Widnes
Towards the end of the 1986-87 season, on the morning of 14th
April, 1987 we got in the car and drove to Naughton Park, the famous ground of
Widnes. The journey home after the match was a bit miserable after we had been
on the wrong end of a 62-16 thrashing. It wasn’t as if we had a particularly
poor squad that year. The Widnes game was the penultimate one in the league
that year and at that time four clubs were relegated and four promoted from the
second division. Fev were already condemned to the drop as we were in the
bottom 3 and there was no possibility of saving us. But it was a Fev team
including some notable names such as Chris Bibb, Steve Quinn, Graham Steadman,
Deryck Fox, Karl Harrison, Keith Bell and Peter Smith. We nearly forgot, there
was also a certain Mark Campbell in the second row!
During that season we had won 8 of 15 home matches but only managed one
solitary win in away games. The wins, and Fev fans would love to see some of
these repeated next year, included Hull, Leeds, Leigh and Salford. One that we
hope won’t happen next year was the win, both home and away against, Wakefield
who finished in the same position in 1986/87 as they did in 2023!
So, 1987/88 we didn’t have to play Widnes but it was a year of
three up and three down and the Second Division promotion spots were taken by
Oldham, Wakefield and Fev all of whom had been relegated the year before.
On to 1988/89, back in the top flight and we did really well for a promoted team finishing in 6th place above teams such as St. Helens, Warrington, and Hull KR. We started off the campaign losing to Leeds at Post Office Road, but then beat Hull KR at Craven Park and Oldham at home. The next match was… away at Widnes. Into the car and off we went believing that it couldn’t be as bad as the last trip there. Well, we didn’t let them score 62 this time but they did manage 58 with Andy Currier scoring five tries and Martin Offiah four.
Fev could only manage one penalty so the losing margin was
even greater than two years before. It hurt. The only consolation was that
Widnes ended up as league champions that year.
Nevertheless, we did do the double over Halifax, Hull, Hull KR, St.
Helens and Salford.
At the start of the 1989/90 season we were hopeful that we could progress
further from our 6th place the previous year. Exactly 364 days after the
excruciating result at Widnes we were off there again. Another fruitless
journey as we lost 59-8 this time and Martin Offiah again scored four tries.
Still, we were able to comfort ourselves just a little bit when ten days later
Widnes won the World Club Challenge, beating Canberra Raiders 30-18 at Old
Trafford.
That year Fev slipped down to 10th in the table but still
managed to do doubles over Warrington and CASTLEFORD!! To our delight, in
March, on a Wednesday evening when Widnes came to Post Office Road Fev pulled
out all the stops to produce a 30-22 win.
Those three matches at Naughton Park are why we always love it when we
beat Widnes. So the last two years have been very happy indeed. The home match
in 2022 we won 74-6 which was our highest ever score, and even more importantly
it is 14 points better than Widnes have ever scored against Fev. The away match
was much tighter, Fev winning 20-16, but we’ll take any win at Naughton Park,
or whatever they call it now. And, of course, this year we won 30-0 away (the
only time we have ever nilled them) and that glorious 62-10 in our last game
with the most incredible finish from Gareth Gale. Our two best try photos of
2023 have been that one and the try he scored in the away match against them
when he broke through and virtually the whole Widnes team were left chasing him
in vain!
What a day it was at
Fev on September the 23rd! Our women’s team presented with the
trophy for becoming Super League Group B champions and promotion to Group A.
And the men’s team
presented with the Championship League Leaders Shield.
The Fev Award
For anyone who missed them, here are the awards handed out at the
presentation evening on September 30th:
Caleb Aekins
Attacking Player of the Year, Coach’s Player of the Year and Players’
Player of the Year.
James Lockwood
Defensive Player of the Year and Rovers Man of Steel
Victory in Toulouse
Moment of the Year
Clubman of the Year
Dave Merrick
Community Award
Featherstone Rovers Learning Disability Rugby League Team
Rookie of the Year
Arama Hau
Best Newcomer this year
Elijah Taylor
Try of the Season
Gareth Gale’s try against Widnes on September 23rd (see
picture above in the Widnes section)
Steven Mullaney Trophy (Fans’ Player of the Year)
Gareth Gale
All the awards went to people who thoroughly deserved them.
Nevertheless, we were shocked that one player didn’t get any award, and we
spoke with a number of fans who had thought exactly the same.
The player in question is Connor Jones who has had a truly remarkable
season. Let’s spell it out. In 2023 he was the joint third highest try scorer
amongst all clubs in Championship Matches. That’s a very fine achievement in
itself, but then bear in mind two special factors. All the other players in the
top ten were either backs or full backs. Not only that but Connor has been on
the bench for most matches and has frequently spent no more than 40 minutes on
the field.
So fevnut’s special player of the year award goes to Connor Jones! Your
contribution to Fev’s season has been immense.
London Broncos
We have spoken to quite a few Fev fans who think that the result of
Sunday’s match is a foregone conclusion. Thankfully that view is not shared by
James Ford or the team.
In the two matches we have played against them in 2023 we won 40-10 in
London and then 50-6 at home. BUT the team we will be facing is playing very
differently to our opposition in those games.
Back in March they were lying in twelfth place so to finish in fifth is
quite an achievement. It would appear that two mid-season signings have made a
huge difference. They brought in Ausie halfback from Lézignan and centre Dean
Whare from Pia. Corey Norman has played 228 games in the NRL (for Brisbane,
Parramatta and St. George Illawarra) and has also played for Queensland in
State of Origin. And he’s still only 32 tears old. Dean Whare played 155 games
in the NRL (for Manly and Penrith), 38 gamers in Super League for the Catalans
and has played 30 times for the New Zealand international team.
Neither of them were available to London in our two matches against them
earlier in the year. Since they have become regular members of the Broncos
line-up they have not only played very well themselves, but also galvanised the
rest of the squad. They have won seven of their last eight games and beating
Sheffield 42-0 last weekend was a fantastic achievement.
Do we think Fev will win on Sunday? Definitely YES. Do we think it’s
going to be easy? Definitely NOT.
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